Ben Swift wins stage 2 of Coppi e Bartali.(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Ben Swift (Team Sky)
Ben Swift puts on the race leader's jersey.(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
RideLondon Classic podium (l-r): Mike Teunissen (Team LottoNL-Jumbo), Jean-Pierre Drucker (BMC), Ben Swift (Team Sky)
Stage 2 winner Ben Swift (Team Sky) lost the overall race to Louis Meintjes (MTN-Qhubeka) (Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Ben Swift has had a rollercoaster season in 2015 after his strong start was abruptly brought to a halt when he crashed and broke his collarbone on the opening stage of the Tour de Yorkshire in the first weekend of May. The injury meant a long lay-off until he returned to racing in RideLondon at the beginning of August.
Since then, he has notched up 19 more days of racing in an attempt to bring him into form for the World Championships. With Mark Cavendish and Geraint Thomas out of the team, Great Britain may look to Swift if it comes to a sprint. Cyclingnews caught up with the Yorkshireman to get his thoughts ahead of the World Championships.
Cyclingnews: It's been a pretty busy time for you, how are you feeling?
Ben Swift: Yeah, it's been a little bit strange actually. When you're coming back from an injury you're always chasing and you just never quite relax and recover properly so it'll be nice to get this race out of the way and recover for a bit.
CN: You were out for a while, how challenging is it spending so long away from racing?
BS: It is really difficult especially when you're out for two months.
CN: The World Championships are just around the corner, what are your thoughts on that? (Cavendish and Thomas pulled out of the road race after Cyclingnews spoke to Swift -ed).
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BS: We've got a good group of guys for that. There's a lot of strong riders on that team, we've got a full team. It's going to be a difficult race to predict really because nobody's sure who it's for. I haven't seen the course but it's going to be open for a lot of riders so I think that it should be some good racing. We've got a lot of options to play.
CN: Some say that it isn't as hard as it looks and it could come down to a sprint.
BS: Definitely, it depends on how the race pans out. It could be like a race out here (in Britain –ed), it's a very open race and sometimes that makes it quite exciting.
CN: How much of a blow was it to lose Chris Froome after his Vuelta a Espana crash?
BS: He's a great rider, a strong rider. I don't think it was hilly enough for him to be a contender on that circuit but the firepower that he would have brought to the team would have been incredible. Obviously, it's disappointing for him but he can now rest and recover and get ready for next year.
CN: Finally, what are your plans for the remainder of the season?
BS: I'm just looking at the World Championships really. I'm down for a couple of races afterwards but we'll see how I feel after that really. I just want to get this season out of the way, sort out this injury and just recover a bit.
Hopefully I'll get to spend a little time on the beach and rest and recover a bit.
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Born in Ireland to a cycling family and later moved to the Isle of Man, so there was no surprise when I got into the sport. Studied sports journalism at university before going on to do a Masters in sports broadcast. After university I spent three months interning at Eurosport, where I covered the Tour de France. In 2012 I started at Procycling Magazine, before becoming the deputy editor of Procycling Week. I then joined Cyclingnews, in December 2013.
